Use the classic Personalization panel in Windows 10

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 5, 2015
Updated • Jul 5, 2017
Software, Windows 10
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11

Microsoft removed the classic personalization panel of previous versions of Windows and added some of the options to the Settings application instead.

While you can right-click on the desktop on Windows 10 to launch the personalization options just like before, you will notice quickly that they are not on-pair with what was offered previously.

For instance, the new app lacks options to set a screensaver or pick a custom accent color.

One could say that this does not really matter if you use it only once and forget all about it afterwards, but if you like to personalize your system, this is a problem especially since it is unclear if the options have been removed completely or need to be launched from elsewhere.

Before we look at an alternative, lets take a look at the Windows 10 Personalization options.

windows 10 personalization

The Windows 10 Personalization menu offers the following options:

  • Change the desktop background image and select how wallpapers should be displayed on the desktop.
  • Pick an accent color for the background or let Windows pick a color automatically.
  • Show that color on Start, taskbar and Action Center, and make those transparent.
  • Configure high contrast settings.
  • Configure a picture for the lockscreen, and add apps to it.
  • Open the theme settings, sound, desktop icons and mouse pointers.
  • Define Start related settings such as showing or hiding most used apps or recently added apps.

Personalization Panel for Windows 10 is a free standalone program that brings back the classic Windows personalization window.

personalization

You can run the program from any location on your system as it does not have to be installed.

Probably the biggest advantage of the program is that it lists all personalization options on a single page. This is in contrast to the new Windows 10 Settings app which divides them on five pages currently that you need to click through.

You may use the app to switch themes quickly or load one of the available personalization menus, e.g. desktop backgrounds or color options.

The program won't load the Settings application but uses the personalization options provided by the Windows Control Panel (which Microsoft wants to get rid of).

If you click on desktop background for instance, the corresponding control panel applet opens which improves the wallpaper selection process significantly as it remembers picture locations.

desktop background

The main advantage of the program is that it links to all personalization options on a single screen making it that much easier to change settings without having to flip through different pages to do so. In addition to that, it links to configuration options that Microsoft has yet to integrate into the settings application (or decided against it and won't add them).

This can be particularly useful if you change settings regularly. If you only do that once and stick with them, it may not be worth it though considering that you perform the modifications once only.

Summary
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Author Rating
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1 based on 12 votes
Software Name
Personalization Panel for Windows 10
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
Administration
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Comments

  1. John G. said on January 2, 2023 at 4:59 pm
    Reply

    All is better than the current ClipChamp that it’s the most useless garbage ever done. Thanks for the article by the way.

    1. Anonymous said on January 3, 2023 at 12:21 am
      Reply

      Horrible company that bought out this ClipChamp trash. Microsoft no longer puts any effort into developing software; instead, they only want to use their subpar web services to con you out of more money.

  2. VioletMoon said on January 2, 2023 at 5:07 pm
    Reply

    No disrespect, but educators have known about MS Photos and the ability to work with videos for four years; may want to take a look at the MS Educators Blog:

    https://educationblog.microsoft.com/en-us/2018/07/how-to-quickly-edit-videos-on-windows-10

    The following link is part of the Blog:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/windows/photo-movie-editor

    Here to old fashion legacy stuff: I still use Movie Maker, which runs fine on Windows 10, and PhotoStory, which has enabled me to make some awesome slideshows.

  3. Seeprime said on January 2, 2023 at 5:16 pm
    Reply

    Still using question marks without asking a question. That’s not professional.

  4. Paul(us) said on January 2, 2023 at 11:06 pm
    Reply

    “To edit it, you need to click on ‘edit & create’ from the top. “Do you mean with Windows 10 in photo’s “Video trim”?

  5. French Fried Potaterz said on January 3, 2023 at 5:08 am
    Reply

    – Video Editor:
    KDENLIVE: https://kdenlive.org/en/

    – DVD Authoring:
    DVDFlick: http://www.dvdflick.net/

    Both are free and are not “crippleware” like most “free” offerings for Windows.

  6. Tish said on January 3, 2023 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    Shaun, it really backfires to draw people’s eyes to something irrelevant. Links should have good information scent: that is, they must clearly explain where they will take users. Additionally, poor link labels hurt your search-engine ranking.

    Don’t force users to read the text surrounding a link to determine where it leads. This is both time consuming and frustrating.

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